Diabolical | T. Drake ✔

[33] The Ultimate Weapon

It turned out that the girl Timothy had met in that alley was Cassandra Cain, daughter of Lady Shiva and David Cain. She had escaped from captivity as she was being raised to be the ultimate weapon and after her escape, she had been constantly getting targeted by Assassins.

Bruce was the one who dug that information out as the vigilantes had encountered her a night prior to Tim convincing Jason to let her stay in his safehouse.

For some reason, Tim had gained her trust and was the only one out of them who she communicated with. She would convey whatever she wanted to say using sign language and Tim would interpret it for the others.

She could hear them but they weren't sure whether she had a language barrier that did not let her speak to communicate with them or there was some other issue. 

Bruce had talked in Arabic with her once and she seemed to understand it but still did not respond. The same was the case for the others who talked to her in English. 

She listened to them and understood them but never spoke.

Tim had started to call her Cass and sometimes Big Sis even (as she was older than him) which was quite adorable. And she also looked out for Tim like a mother hawk does for its child. She would go on the offensive whenever she felt Tim was in danger.

Seeing that the girl did not want to go back to the League and was clearly in trouble if left on her own, Bruce decided to make her a part of their family too.

She had stayed in Jason's safehouse for a week and didn't do anything to hurt any of them. Perhaps Tim was right and she had only killed and injured those people who were after her because there was no other way she could survive.

Steph had also met her and befriended her by then. So Cassandra now had two people she was slowly getting closer to and treating as her family.

Therefore, it wasn't very difficult to convince her to go with them to Wayne Manor and live with them from then onwards.

It took time but eventually, Cassandra started to accept all of them and knew they wouldn't hurt her. She would sometimes get confused about why they were helping her out but Tim would always say it was fine and what family members did for each other, making her worries lessen.

And as she had been taken in by the Waynes, the League hadn't been able to track her out either. She no longer had to worry about assassins attacking her but she was still always on her guard.

Tim understood her far better than the others because he remembered that time clearly when he too had to survive all own using any means possible. So in his own way, he tried to help her accept normal life and adjust to it, just like Steph had helped him back when he had gotten adopted by Bruce.

His efforts were paying off and they could see Cassandra slowly adjusting to her new life.

Right then, Tim was with Cassandra and he had brought her to his lab, showing her around the place and explaining the apparatus he had there. She was curiously following him, checking out the things he allowed her to touch.

"I work here but I got grounded a while back so couldn't come here as often as earlier," he added, "it feels so good to be back though."

"Grounded...?"

He paused at the unfamiliar voice and turned to see her because she was the only person there with him but she hadn't ever spoken before. "Cass, did you just say something?"

"I... Speak," she told him but it took her long to form full sentences as she paused in between words, "what is... Grounded?" 

"Oh..." He was both shocked and happy to see her speak, "that's... That's great. I mean not being grounded, that wasn't great at all but hearing you say something finally, that's great."

She had gone silent again, looking at him as she was waiting for him to answer her question.

"Grounded, well it's kind of a punishment. You know when you do something wrong and you get punished for it so that you don't do it again?" He explained and watched her nod her head in reply.

"You... Punished? How?"

"Well, Bruce didn't let me come here for a month and my privileges were cut off. Like I couldn't go out on my own and I had to give up my workplace at Wayne Labs."

She looked at him in confusion, "just that?"

"Yes," he paused because it was clear she was expecting to hear something else from him, "what kind of punishment did you think about?"

"Father... Shot me... If I wrong," she replied, "I not allowed... To flinch... Not react."

"Oh... Um..." Tim looked at her in shock, trying to register her words clearly, "he shot you? Like with a gun?"

She nodded in reply, "I trained..."

"He did that to train you? But for what?"

"Not feel pain. I fight. Pain weakness. No pain."

Tim sat there stunned as he had not expected her to say that. She must have had a violent childhood considering her father shot her as a punishment.

"You okay? Tim?" She asked, seeing that he looked as if he had just seen a ghost in front of him.

"Yeah, I... I am fine," he snapped out of it but he still felt terrible. However, he realized what she had said so he mumbled, "hey, it's the first time you said my name."

She gave him a small smile and that seemed to make things slightly better. But he couldn't shrug off the feeling that she had been getting abused all that time which probably resulted in her escape.

"Well, Cass, I think we should go back now. I have got to talk to Bruce," he stood up, "but first we can drop by the kitchen to see if Alfred's cookies are out of the oven now."

He packed up the apparatus and she followed him out but as they were going up to the Manor, she spoke in a low voice, "little brother, no worry. I fine now."

He felt the immediate urge to give her a hug but didn't, not knowing how she would react. He couldn't even begin to imagine everything she had been through but her strength and resilience truly showed as she had managed to escape from her fate and was with them right then.

Seeing that he was getting emotional, she smiled slightly and patted his head in a sign of affection. She could see he cared a lot for her and she appreciated that even if she couldn't manage to express it verbally.

He might not be her brother by blood but for her, it did not make a difference. 

***